White supremacists have made massive profits through bitcoin, new analysis suggests

• A new Southern Poverty Law Center analysis identified far-right figures who made profits off crypto.
• Among the figures identified were Stefan Molyneux and The Daily Stormer's Andrew Anglin.

Some white supremacists who invested early in bitcoin have made massive profits off it and other cryptocurrencies, generating tens of millions of dollars in wealth, new research suggests.

An analysis released Thursday by the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) identified more than 600 cryptocurrency addresses used by white supremacists and other far-right extremists.

The research says that figures who have championed white supremacist views — including Andrew Auernheimer, Andrew Anglin of The Daily Stormer website, and right-wing commentator Stefan Molyneux — were early investors in bitcoin and "turned a substantial profit from it."

"The estimated tens of millions of dollars' worth of value extreme far-right figures generated represents a sum that would almost certainly be unavailable to them without cryptocurrency, and it gave them a chance to live comfortable lives while promoting hate and authoritarianism," according to the SPLC's analysis on its Hatewatch blog.

The analysis goes on to say that "nothing is inherently criminal or extreme about" cryptocurrency and that "most of its users have no connections to the extreme far-right."

"However, the far right's early embrace of cryptocurrency merits deeper analysis, due to the way they used it to expand their movement and to obscure funding sources," said Hatewatch's report.

Molyneux, who runs the philosophy podcast "Freedomain" on his website, was banned from YouTube along with the white nationalist Richard Spencer and the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in June 2020 as part of a crackdown on channels that featured hate speech. Molyneux's Twitter account was suspended a little over a week later, Screen Rant reported.

In addition to cryptocurrency, Molyneux appears to make money through soliciting donations on his website, from fans of his purchasing membership to his virtual "Freedomain Community," and by selling books. Molyneux has 10 philosophy-themed books listed for his sale on his website.

Aurenheimer, or "weev," became known online as an internet troll and 4chan personality before he later started writing articles containing white supremacist rhetoric for the neo-Nazi and far-right website the Daily Stormer, according to the SPLC.

Anglin is the founder of the Daily Stormer, according to the SPLC. In February, Anglin wrote a post on the Daily Stormer website telling readers they can only donate to the website using the anonymous cryptocurrency Monero. The website decided to switch from bitcoin to Monero in 2020 because "the media" had started pointing a light on "right-wing sites" accepting bitcoin donations, he wrote in the post, citing a CNN investigation into far-right extremists soliciting cryptocurrency donations.